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NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | AUTHOR | REPORTING BUGS | COPYRIGHT | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON |
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CP(1) User Commands CP(1)
cp - copy files and directories
cp [OPTION]... [-T] SOURCE DEST
cp [OPTION]... SOURCE... DIRECTORY
cp [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY SOURCE...
Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short
options too.
-a, --archive
same as -dR --preserve=all
--attributes-only
don't copy the file data, just the attributes
--backup[=CONTROL]
make a backup of each existing destination file
-b like --backup but does not accept an argument
--copy-contents
copy contents of special files when recursive
-d same as --no-dereference --preserve=links
--debug
explain how a file is copied. Implies -v
-f, --force
if an existing destination file cannot be opened, remove it
and try again (this option is ignored when the -n option is
also used)
-i, --interactive
prompt before overwrite (overrides a previous -n option)
-H follow command-line symbolic links in SOURCE
-l, --link
hard link files instead of copying
-L, --dereference
always follow symbolic links in SOURCE
-n, --no-clobber
(deprecated) silently skip existing files. See also
--update
-P, --no-dereference
never follow symbolic links in SOURCE
-p same as --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps
--preserve[=ATTR_LIST]
preserve the specified attributes
--no-preserve=ATTR_LIST
don't preserve the specified attributes
--parents
use full source file name under DIRECTORY
-R, -r, --recursive
copy directories recursively
--reflink[=WHEN]
control clone/CoW copies. See below
--remove-destination
remove each existing destination file before attempting to
open it (contrast with --force)
--sparse=WHEN
control creation of sparse files. See below
--strip-trailing-slashes
remove any trailing slashes from each SOURCE argument
-s, --symbolic-link
make symbolic links instead of copying
-S, --suffix=SUFFIX
override the usual backup suffix
-t, --target-directory=DIRECTORY
copy all SOURCE arguments into DIRECTORY
-T, --no-target-directory
treat DEST as a normal file
--update[=UPDATE]
control which existing files are updated;
UPDATE={all,none,none-fail,older(default)}
-u equivalent to --update[=older]. See below
-v, --verbose
explain what is being done
--keep-directory-symlink
follow existing symlinks to directories
-x, --one-file-system
stay on this file system
-Z set SELinux security context of destination file to default
type
--context[=CTX]
like -Z, or if CTX is specified then set the SELinux or
SMACK security context to CTX
--help display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit
ATTR_LIST is a comma-separated list of attributes. Attributes are
'mode' for permissions (including any ACL and xattr permissions),
'ownership' for user and group, 'timestamps' for file timestamps,
'links' for hard links, 'context' for security context, 'xattr'
for extended attributes, and 'all' for all attributes.
By default, sparse SOURCE files are detected by a crude heuristic
and the corresponding DEST file is made sparse as well. That is
the behavior selected by --sparse=auto. Specify --sparse=always
to create a sparse DEST file whenever the SOURCE file contains a
long enough sequence of zero bytes. Use --sparse=never to inhibit
creation of sparse files.
UPDATE controls which existing files in the destination are
replaced. 'all' is the default operation when an --update option
is not specified, and results in all existing files in the
destination being replaced. 'none' is like the --no-clobber
option, in that no files in the destination are replaced, and
skipped files do not induce a failure. 'none-fail' also ensures
no files are replaced in the destination, but any skipped files
are diagnosed and induce a failure. 'older' is the default
operation when --update is specified, and results in files being
replaced if they're older than the corresponding source file.
When --reflink[=always] is specified, perform a lightweight copy,
where the data blocks are copied only when modified. If this is
not possible the copy fails, or if --reflink=auto is specified,
fall back to a standard copy. Use --reflink=never to ensure a
standard copy is performed.
The backup suffix is '~', unless set with --suffix or
SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX. The version control method may be selected
via the --backup option or through the VERSION_CONTROL environment
variable. Here are the values:
none, off
never make backups (even if --backup is given)
numbered, t
make numbered backups
existing, nil
numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise
simple, never
always make simple backups
As a special case, cp makes a backup of SOURCE when the force and
backup options are given and SOURCE and DEST are the same name for
an existing, regular file.
Written by Torbjorn Granlund, David MacKenzie, and Jim Meyering.
GNU coreutils online help:
<https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to
<https://translationproject.org/team/>
Copyright © 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+:
GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
install(1)
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/cp>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) cp invocation'
This page is part of the coreutils (basic file, shell and text
manipulation utilities) project. Information about the project
can be found at ⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/⟩. If you
have a bug report for this manual page, see
⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/⟩. This page was obtained
from the tarball coreutils-9.7.tar.xz fetched from
⟨http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/coreutils/⟩ on 2025-08-11. If you
discover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page,
or you believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the
page, or you have corrections or improvements to the information
in this COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page),
send a mail to man-pages@man7.org
GNU coreutils 9.7 April 2025 CP(1)
Pages that refer to this page: install(1), pmlogcompress(1), pmlogmv(1), rsync(1), cpuset(7), symlink(7), e2image(8), readprofile(8), swapon(8)
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HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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